"It's a pleasure to see you, Lord Uchiha," Rias Gremory gave a formal salute, then glanced at Akeno and Issei, signaling them to slightly bow toward Itachi as well. After a moment, she finally spoke again.
"We've been practicing the jutsus you taught us, it seems we've made a somewhat decent progress," Rias smiled and gestured around them before continuing, "Thank you for that… Itachi."
She blushed. For the past few weeks, she had been thinking about what Itachi had done, some news from the underworld came to her mind, and she couldn't help but smile.
"On par with the best Demon Lords, Huh?" she thought, she knew Itachi was a rare man to find and, of course, couldn't stop thinking about him, about their previous encounters.
"Too tough, brusque, sometimes rude, but… cute," Rias clenched her teeth tightly, feeling a sweet, shivery sensation run through her body. Then, like a good girl, she spoke.
"Lord Uchiha, I would like to invite you to watch my battle against Riser from the Gremory family's box…"
Rias's words immediately caught Akeno's attention. She turned her head and looked at her president with wide eyes and a bright smile. After all, for the head of one clan to watch a Rating Game from another clan's box was a sort of omen for a wedding.
Itachi had also learned about these peculiarities of demons a few days ago. He smiled slightly and calmly took a few steps forward.
Rias looked at him, blushing deeply, with a smile struggling to spread across her face as Itachi approached.
"The scent is…" She rubbed her legs lightly, Itachi towered over her by far, she bit her lower lip, struggling to lift her head, "I can't…" she thought, bending slightly while clasping her hands in front of her miniskirt.
However, once Itachi was close to Rias, he simply pressed two fingers to her forehead, making her raise her head to look at him.
"It's not necessary, Rias Gremory, I will have my own box at the event and will be waiting for your victory…" he smiled brightly.
"Damn it!!" Akeno cursed in her mind, but she couldn't have been happier. She had never seen her friend look so intense as in that moment; she was completely euphoric.
"Did he just reject the president?" she thought, biting her lower lip, "This… this is incredible!!!" She stomped the floor.
Asia Argento, not far behind Itachi, sighed in relief, she had almost been overtaken by jealousy a moment ago, and the consequences would have been unimaginable.
But on the other hand, Issei Hyoudou watched this with mixed feelings. He felt it, felt the emotions his president had toward Itachi.
Issei swallowed hard, and once again the old question crossed his mind, "Why is Itachi so popular with girls?" Even though he kind of knew the answer, he was still intrigued.
He looked at Itachi, "You're strong, equal in power to the top Demon Lords according to the president, handsome, tall, and… yet it doesn't seem like you spend much time with girls," the poor guy thought. In his mind, that was the profile of a classic protagonist in a teenage romance novel.
"Well, after all, you're Itachi, bro…" Issei smiled, then thought of Kiryuu and rubbed his hands, "But this girl has been acting a little strange lately, maybe I should find out what's going on," he thought curiously.
After exchanging a few more words with Rias Gremory, she left through a portal to the underworld along with her Peerage.
...
"Itachi, where are we going?" Asia asked curiously, she was being carried in the ninja's arms as he flew at great speed, covering an incredible distance in just moments.
"According to Sirzechs, a base of Orochimaru was found not far from Kuoh, I'm going to investigate it, and tomorrow we'll attend the redhead's Rating Game," Itachi decided, and Asia nodded.
After flying for a few more minutes, Itachi arrived at a base of a mountain in a forest outside Kuoh city.
His Sharingan activated and quickly scanned the area, immediately finding the entrance to a sort of underground base.
"This… reminds me of a novel I once read," Asia said quietly, both had already descended and were walking through a corridor lit only by a small orb of light in Itachi's hand.
"Novel?" The ninja asked, curious.
"Children of the Prophecy," Asia answered, making Itachi raise an eyebrow. He thought he had heard that phrase somewhere, but the ninja couldn't remember where.
Itachi paused for a moment, examining his surroundings before continuing to walk, "What's the story about?" he asked, now a little more curious.
"Hehe, Itachi, Itachi, it's the first time you show interest in my novels…" Asia said flirtatiously, stepping closer to the ninja with small hops.
"Hmph…" The ninja said nothing. Asia saw this and squinted happily, continuing to walk behind Itachi as she remembered.
"Children of the Prophecy tells the story of a boy, a boy destined to be the savior of the world, it's mostly about this boy saving the world, although… well, it still doesn't have an ending," Asia lamented softly.
After a moment of silence, in which only their footsteps could be heard in the corridor, Asia made a light cheerful noise with her hands, "Oh, and the novel is set in a kind of ninja world, it's funny, Right?"
Asia's words immediately made Itachi stop dead in his tracks, he turned his head slightly to look back at the girl with bright eyes, "What's the boy's name in the prophecy in the book?"
Itachi's question made Asia smile even more brightly. Itachi had never been this interested in the novels she reads, "Well, his name is… Naruto," she said, bringing a hand to her chin.
A brief silence formed, Itachi stared at Asia for a few seconds before continuing to walk, saying, "I see, sounds interesting…" then fell silent again.
Asia noticed this and sighed with a bit of resignation, "After all, Itachi is hardly ever interested in novels, Right?" she asked, Itachi smiled slightly.
"It's not that," he stopped, turned slightly, and pressed two fingers against the girl's forehead, "It's just that I'll read it later, we're in a dangerous place now, if it weren't for you being a shadow clone, I wouldn't have brought you, haha," Itachi said.
Asia, or rather the shadow clone of Asia, frowned. Before coming to the human world, Itachi had told Asia to make a shadow clone with her greatest effort and that he would take that clone to the human world to gain some experience investigating Orochimaru's base.
After a few moments, they finally reached the end of the tunnel. A large iron door stood before them.
"This looks way too much like a Rashomon…" Itachi muttered. He motioned for Asia to step away from him, then pushed his hand through the hard metal, pulled, and removed the massive door.
"Shit… Is this what they meant by Demon Lord level?" Asia swallowed hard.
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